


Just Breathe

by ohmytheon



Category: Soul Eater
Genre: F/M, School, Shibusen | DWMA, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-10
Updated: 2018-02-10
Packaged: 2019-03-16 04:39:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13628757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmytheon/pseuds/ohmytheon
Summary: Even when they were just students at the DWMA, Stein had faith in Marie’s abilities.





	Just Breathe

Normally, nothing got under Stein’s skin (with the exception of himself), but Marie had been tapping her foot on the ground for almost thirty minutes straight seemingly without realizing it. A record to be sure. He hadn’t seen her this nervous since before her last date, which had ended… Well, it hadn’t ended well. He didn’t know why, mostly because she wouldn’t talk about it without being pressed and he wasn’t the type to press for information about things like that.

In one of the few times that they’d spoken on near-friendly terms, Spirit had said the guy was sleazy. And if  _Spirit_ of all people said that…

There was no date around the corner to go on for her. There was, however, finals. He’d never seen Marie get jittery over school. She was smart, though he thought she hid it, as if afraid that her intelligence would somehow make her unappealing to the male species. More importantly though, she studied hard and didn’t slack off. She never had any pity for Spirit when he complained about a low grade on a paper after procrastinating too long.

Finally, Stein couldn’t take it any longer, so he reached out underneath the table and placed his hand on her knee, effectively stifling her movements. Marie’s entire body stiffened and her eyes darted up to his in a frantic manner. He knew that she would know that he wasn’t trying to make some sort of lewd pass at her, but she seemed so out of it that she didn’t know what he was doing.

“Breathe,” Stein told her.

Marie did so, taking a large breath, and relaxed her body. Then, she gave him a small smile. “Sorry.”

“No problem.”

A part of him pointed out that he should take his hand away from her – it had done the job of helping her snap out of it and calm down – but he didn’t move it. He kept his hand there. It wasn’t straining him and she didn’t seem perturbed. They didn’t have much of a physical relationship that most teenagers had, but she was his Weapon and he was her Meister. Sometimes, it was _all_ they had in a way. This right here, he told himself, his hand on her knee, wasn’t any different from when she was in her Weapon form.

“I’m just…” Marie sighed. “The end of the year is coming up.”

“It is.”

“And we’re so close…”

To their goal. Stein had nearly done it once already, but his own foolishness or perhaps his Madness had got in the way. Kami had graduated with Spirit instead. There was no sense in getting angry or even bothered by it. The whole thing had been Stein’s fault. He knew that. He would’ve been out of the DWMA already if not for that. But, looking at Marie now, he honestly didn’t mind. He’d learned more about Weapons after being partnered with her.

“You’re worried that we won’t make it.”

Marie looked down and fiddled with her hands in her lap. “I don’t want to force you into attending another year.”

“If I attend another year, it’s because I didn’t wield you properly,” Stein pointed out matter-of-factly. He had been told that he talked about Weapons too impersonally. They were humans, after all, even when they transformed into their Weapon form. Marie was something different. She was special. Too difficult to wield for just anyone, too powerful for almost every student even if they could.

They’d been a perfect match in soul resonance since perhaps the day they’d first met. They hadn’t found that out until Stein and Spirit had been split up and Stein had found himself a Meister without a Weapon.

“We just need two more souls and then…”

“A witch’s soul.” Stein could feel himself going all moony over the idea of capturing a witch’s soul, kind of like the way Marie would over a smooth-talking boy or Spirit over Kami. There was something so terrible and wonderful about witches. They marked the end of a student’s time at the DWMA – and the end of a lot of lives too. They were dangerous and vile and brilliant. Stein could understand that.

Marie looked down at the books splayed out in front of them on their kitchen table. They had been reviewing different techniques, trying to find something new. There had to be something that they could try. Marie was always up for experimenting. It made her easy to work with. He couldn’t understand why so many other Meisters at the DWMA had failed at wielding her. She was almost pliable in his hands.

No, that wasn’t the right word. She…fit in his hands. Like she was molded to him.

Suddenly, his hand on her knee felt too warm, too close. She felt like that sometimes, although she never seemed to notice. Maybe it was on his end. He’d been doing a lot of experimenting with his own soul resonance and power recently. It might’ve caused some side effects that he couldn’t quantify yet.

“You don’t need to worry,” Stein said as he retracted his hand.

“I don’t want to disappoint, is all,” Marie mumbled.

“You’ve never disappointed me,” Stein told her. He barely caught the startled look from her, being more focused on a section in the book in front of her that caught his eye. He took the book, absorbed in it again, while Marie sat quietly across from him. She wasn’t bouncing her foot any longer. That was a good sign.

It was the truth though. Marie would stay up all night studying with him if it meant getting a good grade. He could still remember the first time they’d practiced soul resonating. Despite his talent at it now, it had taken him some time to manage it with both Spirit and Marie. With Spirit, it had been a struggle, the two boys fighting with one another over how it should be done. With Marie, it had been more like…coaxing her. It had been more gentle, but perhaps even more difficult.

They had spent an entire night practicing until suddenly it was there and their souls were connected and he could see her, all of her, and it had been the most remarkable feeling in the entire world. Afterwards, they had collapsed in their living room, tangled with one another and exhausted on every level. It had taken what felt like an absurd amount of energy to lift her onto the couch, but he remembered thinking that he wanted her to be comfortable after all the hard work she’d done. He’d slept on the floor next to her, either unable or unwilling to move.

It had been a good night. A great night. It was one of the few times his mind had been peaceful.

“I have faith that we can get the souls we need,” Marie finally said. “But the written test…”

Stein shrugged his shoulders. “A pointless exercise that shows nothing.”

Marie shook her head. “I knew you were going to say that. You better at least try.”

Well, he would since she had asked. Didn’t mean he would enjoy it. But when she asked him if he would study with her, he couldn’t exactly say no. They did almost everything together. He could do this. If she wanted.


End file.
